I'll admit right up front that I've never been a true Eagles fan, but I've never been anti-Eagle either. I have always had a soft spot for them because I am such a devout fan of Philadelphia's other teams. You won't find a bigger Phillies, Flyers or Sixers fan than Yours Truly. When it comes to pro football I'm a Denver Broncos fan, because my parents are both from Denver and even though I grew up in Lancaster County surrounded by Eagles fans, our house was a Bronco house. Always was, and always will be.
The Broncos season went down the tubes two Sundays ago with a crushing home loss in overtime. The next morning brought worse news, 24 year old Bronco star in the making Darrent Williams was murdered in a shocking act of senseless violence. I was very down about sports..... and I suddenly found myself not even really caring about what was to happen in the NFL playoffs. For all I cared, the playoffs and the Super Bowl could come and go, I had checked out.
But these Eagles, and more specifically their fill-in quarterback Jeff Garcia, are such a feel good story that they have resurrected my interest and I am a fan once again. For those of you that don't know, Jeff Garcia isn't supposed to even be playing for the Eagles. He was only summoned in to duty when Eagles star quarterback Donovan McNabb went down for the season with a knee injury. At that time most of the experts wrote the Eagles and their nearly 37 year old back up quarterback off for the season. Garcia and the Eagles have proven how wrong the, "experts" can be.
But then again, Jeff Garcia has been battling adversity and proving people wrong his entire life.
As a child, Jeff lost both his sister and brother in tragic accidents just 14 months apart. Before his death, Garcia and his brother were inseparable. By the time Jeff was 7 years old, he had suddenly gone from being one of three children to being an only child. The Garcia family was in shambles.
He once told nfl.com that "I felt like, in many ways, I was robbed of my childhood. I don't want to say that if my brother and sister were here that I wouldn't have been a good son. But by experiencing the tragedies as a family, I saw the hurt and the pain in my mom's eyes and my dad's eyes. I did not want to bring any more disappointment to them. I wanted to do everything I could to bring some joy to their lives. My dad was a football coach, so football was a natural way for me to make my parents happy."
During his senior year in high school, Garcia broke his arm and it killed any chance of getting a football scholarship. He didn't give up and after a tremendous season at Gavilan Junior College he was offered a scholarship to tiny San Jose State. While at San Jose, he earned UPI All-America honors after throwing for 2,418 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Despite that fact, after graduation Garcia didn't get a chance at his NFL dream. No team was willing to even give him a shot, so Garcia decided to keep his dream alive by playing for very little money in the vastly inferior Canadian Football League. His first year with the Calgary Stampeders in 1994 didn't go well, he rarely played and was often not even on the game day roster. Garcia watched many games his first year in Canada from the sidelines..... In street clothes..... But Garcia pressed on. He eventually played well enough in practice to get his shot as Calgary's starting quarterback, and he made the most of it. By 1998 Garcia was a CFL All-Star and led his team to the league Championship. Still, only one NFL team was willing to give him a look.
San Francisco 49ers executive Bill Walsh remembered seeing Garcia at San Jose State and was willing to give him a chance. Garcia began the 1999 season in San Francisco as a back up to future Hall of Famer Steve Young. Early in that 1999 season Young suffered what would turn out to be a career ending concussion, Garcia was finally a starter in the National Football League. Despite all of the skepticism, he played well enough to enter the 2000 season as the 49ers starter. Once again when given a chance, he made the most of it. All he did was go to three straight All Star games. Along the way he threw for team-record 4,278 yards in one season. Considering the 49ers have had the likes of John Brodie, Steve Young, and perhaps the greatest of all-time Joe Montana as its signal caller, Garcia was suddenly in some pretty fast company.
Garcia moved in to his mid-30's and despite his stellar play, the 49ers were getting old and facing a major rebuilding project. The team decided to let Garcia sign elsewhere. As he bounced through NFL exile playing for hapless Cleveland and Detroit the past few seasons, the accepted view was that he was washed up. In the two seasons before he came to the Eagles, Garcia threw 13 touchdown passes and 15 interceptions. Once again, Garcia was counted out.
Without a team to call home for this season, Garcia got a call from Eagles head coach Andy Reid. The Eagles had a job for Garcia, but only to compete with A.J. Feely as a back up for starter Donovan McNabb. Garcia accepted the invitation, and made the team as the number two quarterback, ahead of Feely. When McNabb went down on November 19th against Tennessee, he stepped in as the Eagles new starter.
The early returns weren't very good, the Eagles lost his first start when they were easily trounced on National television by the Indianapolis Colts. Eagle fans were giving up on the season and on Garcia, many of them were actively calling for him to be replaced by Feeley. But as he has always done in life and in football, Garcia rallied. All he did was lead the Eagles to one of the most remarkable runs in team history, a five game winning streak to end the season and an NFC Eastern division title. Along the way to leading the Birds to their first playoff berth since 2004, Garcia threw 10 touchdown passes and just 2 interceptions and posted a 100-plus rating in each of his first three starts, becoming the first Eagles quarterback to do so in his first three starts with the team.
Last weekend I cheered as a David Akers field goal beat the Giants and sent the Eagles into the second round of the playoffs. The irony is that the feel good player of the year now faces the feel good team of the year in the New Orleans Saints. After Hurricane Katrina ripped through Louisiana last year, the Saints were left to play their games in San Antonio and a 3-13 record followed. Nobody expected anything out of the Saints this year, but they have been the Cinderella's of the NFL, posting a 10-6 record on their way to winning the NFC South title. Unfortunately, someone's dream will die this Saturday.
Jeff Garcia is a remarkable story that has rekindled my fire for football. He is a breath of fresh air in an era where money, ego, and the obnoxious actions of so many professional athletes long ago rendered the air stale.
Life rarely has a fairy tale ending for any of us, but seeing Jeff Garcia in the twilight of his career hoist up a Super Bowl trophy on February 4th is an ending certainly worth rooting for.
